1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an inkjet recording apparatus, a control method for inkjet recording apparatus, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium
2. Description of the Related Art
Line printers are lower in head drive frequency than serial printers. Accordingly, because the load applied on a head drive circuit of a line printer during printing is low, from the viewpoint of only the load applied during printing, the drive circuit can be reduced in size and cost. However, if a line printer performs spitting to clear nozzles for maintenance purpose in a manner similar to that in a serial printer, a large load is applied. For this reason, unless the load of spitting is reduced, reduction in size and cost of the drive circuit cannot be achieved. It is known that a technique has been devised to overcome this challenge. In this technique, nozzles necessary for spitting are determined from image data received for printing. Electric power consumption necessary for the spitting is calculated and, if the power consumption is higher than a preset value, the ratio of the number of nozzles to be fired for the spitting to a total number of nozzles is adjusted to a value at which the power consumption does not exceed the preset value. An example of this technique is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2002-113847.
The conventional configuration which adjusts the ratio of the number of nozzles to be fired for spitting so that the power consumption does not exceed the preset value can reduce the maximum power consumption. However, the configuration is disadvantageous in that even nozzles to be used in printing can be excluded from the nozzles to be fired for spitting.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an inkjet recording apparatuses capable of reducing maximum power consumption while performing spitting of nozzles to be used in printing appropriately